Steel shipping containers are often used in intermodal freight transport. Intermodal freight transport can include the transport of steel shipping containers across different modes of transportation including cargo ships, trucks, and railroads. Steel shipping containers can additionally offer secure and standardized means of moving cargo around the world. Such containers can be stacked many levels high both on land and at sea. Circumstances can arise when either random, or specific, containers must have their contents inspected or examined. However, when a target container is in or atop a stack, located high above the ground or deck, accessing the inside can present a formidable challenge. Due to the heights involved, ladders are not practical or useful. Further, at-sea, on cargo ships, conventional height access devices such as personnel lifts are often not safe, useful, and/or practical.
Intermodal containers are used worldwide, and while they have different sizes and shapes, those sizes and shapes generally fall within a small set of worldwide, standardized sizes and shapes. Likewise, intermodal containers often have similar characteristics and components. For example, intermodal containers typically include corner castings to assist in performing various actions related to the containers. A corner casting is typically attached to, or formed as part of, one or more corners of an intermodal container. A casting often includes one or more holes or apertures formed in the casting to allow tools, poles, ropes, and other devices to be removably coupled to the intermodal container when performing various tasks with respect to the container, such as accessing and/or moving the container.
Existing methods for a person to access a high-up container can present a number of challenges. Those existing methods can include lead climbing the front faces of the containers and using ropes and other climbing equipment to protect the climber in the case of a fall, magnetic climbing systems that allow users to scale directly up the ferromagnetic surfaces of the container stack, or using an elongate pole, telescoping or otherwise, to place a hook with a ladder or rope hanging from it, which the climber can then use to access the upper levels. The methods can be difficult to perform and can be prone to undesirable failure, among other drawbacks.
Hook placement methods may offer the best mix of affordability and flexibility, as the topmost corner castings on a container stack are typically open on the top and a hook can be placed into the upper opening by using an elongate pole. Any anchor attachment to a corner casting can provide a climber with excellent confidence in safety, as the corner castings designed to withstand heavy loads in multiple directions. However, this method of hooking the top casting can still present the user with limited and risky options. Most climbing hooks cannot be safely side-loaded into side face openings of the casting, and if the user were to load the hook in any direction except straight down, the loads imparted on the hook would drastically reduce its strength and safety. In some cases, even pulling straight down on the hook may overload it due to the hook's interaction with the shape of the corner casting and the resulting load concentrations that would ensue.
Further, twistlock devices can be placed into the corner castings of stacked containers and can be engaged and disengaged, allowing the containers to physically interlock with each other to provide safety and stability for a stack on the ground or at sea. In any stack of containers, only the uppermost casting opening would be empty, meaning a climbing hook will not fit into any of the other corner attachments at lower levels. This limits options for an inspection team to be able to reach an arbitrary target container easily and safely. Further still, even if a topmost corner casting is a suitable target, a user may not be able to reach that target if their placement pole is not long enough.
It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide a device or tool that can be securely and retrievably placed into any corner casting in a stack of shipping containers from a distance away, whether or not a twistlock device is installed in the target corner attachment. This can enable climbers to choose any casting in any stack as a safe overhead anchor point from which to climb or perform other actions with respect to intermodal containers.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the ensuing description of the present disclosure. One or more of these objectives include:                (a) to provide a device that can be placed from a distance securely into any shipping container corner attachment point using a pole (or equivalent), telescoping or otherwise, to create a tool, e.g., an anchor, suitable for pulling or climbing;        (b) to provide a device that can be retrieved from its secure engagement with a container's corner load point from some distance away;        (c) to provide a device that will remain firmly and securely in place, engaged with a container's corner load point, even when loads are applied;        (d) to provide a device that will self-correct to a safe engagement with a container's corner load point when loads are applied to the device within a range of directions; and        (e) to provide a device that can create a useful anchor when engaged with any shipping container's corner castings, even when the target casting has a twistlock device installed.        